Roger Ebert hates the 3d format; he predicts that it will fade away as a fad. He also wrote that it was dying out and some filmakers decided not to go with 3d.
Another source I read mentioned something like “This movie was great in 3d, only Roger Ebert would object”. I also heard that the new Star Trek 2 is being filmed in 3d.
Ok enough of my poorly remembered Ebert quotes, is 3d in the movies going to last or is it a flash in the pan?
I see it as a crutch. Instead of getting audiences in the theaters with a quality story, they’re merely promoting movies as “3D!” to get people in. If it’s a good story, I don’t care if it’s in B&W, Technicolor or 3D, but it seems as if they’re just doing 3D because A) they can and B) to make more money from a crappy product.
I like 3D movies that have an interesting story and good direction and cinematography. It can add to the visual experience. But I won’t go see a movie just because it’s in 3D. It is not a draw in itself.
Is it a fad that will soon pass? I doubt it. Last I looked, 3D movies are still making plenty of money. Theaters have invested a lot in 3D equipment, and innovations and improvements in 3D cameras and filming techniques are ongoing. Home 3D viewing options are also a rapidly growing business. There is plenty of incentive to keep making and releasing 3D movies.
There are some big name directors making 3D movies now: Scorsese, Spielberg, Peter Jackson, James Cameron, and Tim Burton to name a few. There are also some popular movies that are being converted and rereleased in 3D (The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Titanic, possibly the Star Wars prequels).
I’ve never put much stock in Roger Ebert’s opinion in the past, and even less in recent years.
I saw Toy Story 3 in 3D, and it was enough to put me off the format, as it was a distraction and a headache-inducing nuisance. I saw the movie again on cable some time later, and the story was good enough to have never needed a gimmicky enhancement.
It’s worth noting they said the same thing about movies with sound and movies with color.
I don’t think many people would disagree that visually, 3D is absolute shit right now. All the 3D movies I’ve seen looked awful. 3D TV looks awful. It makes the movie worse.
But, it’s a new element of filmmaking and sooner or later people will start getting it right.
I’ve seen Captain America and the latest Harry Potter movie in 3d. I found the experience visually impressive and well worth the extra buck or two (don’t remember the price difference). 3d is not enough to make me buy a ticket for a movie I would not otherwise see, but if there is a 3d version of something I wanted to see, that’s the version I’d pick in most cases.
I don’t think many movies are hard selling the 3D aspect any more. Yeah the kids movies are all about the 3D but most mainstream blockbusters don’t seem to have much other than a cursory “3D” somewhere at the end of the ad now. In fact I have yet to be forced to see a movie in 3D. Even Avatar was available in 2D in it’s theatrical release.
Yeah, when the fad was in full bloom you’d get trailers like “Coming Friday IN 3DDDDDDDDDDDDDD!” “Also in 2D”
You don’t see that anymore.
They also said it about movies in Smell-O-Vision and Cinerama. Sometimes (in fact, usually) “they” are right.
They’ve been trying to promote 3D off and on for decades. The substantial difference now is that theaters had to invest a bunch of money into it rather than just handing out cheap cardboard glasses.
I predicted in 2009 that 3D would last no more than five years. I’m still on schedule – there are fewer 3D films being made, and people don’t see why they should pay extra.
Well, and that the technology has been largely improved upon so that–when done right–a modern 3D movie can look better than a 3D movie of the past. Sometimes much better. In particular, the anaglyph (red/blue) 3D systems–sometimes used for feature films and the primary method of home viewing in the past–is awful compared to polarization or shutter-lens techniques (which are not new, but are improved and are now more readily available for home).
I’ve got two problems with 3D movies - using them on the wrong sort of movie, and half-assing the implementation. Proper 3d (and not just flat planes added in post production that make it look like a pop-up book) in a movie with the right sort of setting is great. Anything else and you’re better off with 2D.
Mod
This is probably better suited to Café Society.
Yoink.
I don’t think we’ll ever see 3D go away for computer-animated movies, since it’s almost no extra effort to make those into high-quality 3D. And it adds a lot to the experience of action-adventure movies, which tend to be pretty heavily effects-driven anyway, in any number of dimensions. But I don’t think we’ll see it much in romcoms, dramas, etc. until and unless they manage to come up with some technology that doesn’t need special glasses (which I can’t see anywhere on the horizon).
Porn hasn’t embraced it, so I don’t see it having a future.
Whoa. Porn in 3D. Bryan, you have a point: if anyone was going to run with it as a film-making technique, you’d absolutely think it’d be porn.
My girlfriend and I are sick of wearing goofy goggles to watch a movie at the theater that turns out looking roughly the same as a 1080p broadcast on my LCD TV would.
Surely we can’t be the only ones.
If the tech is so amazing that consumers would rather not do without it, then it ultimately succeeds.
Is 3D so amazing?
But you’ll keep wearing your goofy goggles at all other times, right? I understand that’s what the injunction required.
I’ve avoided seeing movies in 3D where the 3D seemed to be tacked on. In fact the only ones I’ve seen in 3D have been Avatar and Toy Story 3 I think. I might see Hugo in 3D because I trust Scorcese.
All the superhero movies, Harry Potter, whatever, 2D was more than adequate. I don’t expect I’ll shell out the extra $$ to see Star Trek in 3D, as much as I like Trek.
I don’t hate the format, but it seems to me to just be a way of jacking up ticket prices an extra $3-4. Totally not worth the price increase. If the tickets cost the same I’d have no problem with 3D.
Coming Summer 2012! My Dinner With Andre–in 3D!